New voice for towns losing councillors
Apr 18 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
A NEW group of grass-roots councillors looks likely to be elected to serve Northumberland’s most heavily populated area under the radical switch to unitary local government.
Parish or town councils are planned for the first time in urban Blyth Valley and Wansbeck to tackle a “democratic deficit” caused by the loss of more than 200 councillors with the abolition of the county, district and borough authorities next year.
It would mean new local councils for communities such as Ashington, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Bedlington, Blyth, Cramlington and Seaton Valley, adding a more local dimension to the work of the unitary council’s 67 members.
Rural parts of Northumberland have been represented by scores of parish councils for decades, but they have never been established in the urban south east. Now, amid fears the unitary authority could be remote from local communities and that its members will have too heavy a workload, more parish councils look set to take root.
Next week Blyth Valley Borough Council will decide whether to carry out a community governance review which would pave the way for creation of parish councils.
At the same time, Wansbeck District Council is considering the establishment of parish councils – following the lead of people in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea who set the wheels in motion for their own local authority some time ago.
New and established parish councils across Northumberland would work alongside 27 unelected community forums which are proposed to give local people a chance to influence the unitary authority’s decision making.
A town council is being set up in Berwick as part of the switch to unitary government, which will see the number of councillors in Northumberland cut from 306 to 67.
A report to Blyth Valley Council’s meeting on Thursday says there are strong arguments in favour of creating parish councils in the borough.
Yesterday council leader Dave Stephens said: “I favour the creation of town councils for places like Blyth, Cramlington and Seaton Valley to ensure there is a structure in which people on the streets and using the services have got something local to link to. These new councils would also take some of the load off the members of the unitary authority.”
Both districts believe local councils could be established next April.
How they work
NORTHUMBERLAND is currently served by more than 130 parish and town councils across Berwick, Alnwick, Castle Morpeth and Tynedale.
They organise local services and activities such as public toilets, street lighting, allotments, playgrounds, recreation grounds, community centres, war memorials and bloom competition entries, as well as commenting on local planning and licensing applications.
Town councils exist in larger communities such as Alnwick, Morpeth, Hexham, Haltwhistle, Prudhoe and now Berwick, while parish authorities are found in villages such as Holy Island, Acklington, Allendale, Corbridge, Ford, Mitford, Ulgham and Wylam.
Members are elected every four years and the authorities can raise funds to pay for local services through a levy which is added to local council tax bills.
